The technology relates to a vehicle including a motor for traveling.
As a vehicle such as an automobile, an electric vehicle is widely known. The electric vehicle includes a motor for traveling. In the electric vehicle, as described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (JP-A) Nos. 2013-31329 and 2013-236456, a smoothing condenser is coupled in parallel to a high-voltage battery. The high-voltage battery is utilized as a drive power supply of the motor. The electric vehicle is provided with a discharge circuit that causes discharge of charged charges of the smoothing condenser. As to the high-voltage battery, provided is a switch circuit that is called a contactor. The contactor is provided for electrical separation of the high-voltage battery from other circuitry including the smoothing condenser and the discharge circuit.
The contactor is turned OFF when the operation is brought to an ordinary stop. This causes the electrical separation of the high-voltage battery from other circuitry. The ordinary stop of the operation refers to an occasion on which the vehicle is switched from an operative state to an operation stopped state in accordance with a predetermined operation by a driver, e.g., an OFF operation of an ignition switch. Moreover, the contactor is turned OFF, not only with the ordinary stop of the operation, but also upon a detection of a collision of an object with the vehicle. This contributes to enhancement in safety against, for example, electric leakage or an electric shock.
When the contactor is turned OFF, the charged charges remain in the smoothing condenser. The discharge circuit is provided for the discharge of the remaining charged charges.